Not A Love Song
by SixNewAdventures
Summary: Takes place a little after 'Never Be The Same'. I'd suggest you read that story first. Zaina, the daughter of Dick, and Jason, the son of Wally and Artemis, are struggling to write a song for their upcoming interview but things go downhill when Jason secretly reads her personal journal and thinks she has a crush on him...


**A/N: Okay, I was in the middle of going through the reviews of 'Never Be The Same' and noticed that a lot of people wanted Jason and Zaina to have feelings for each other. So, I thought it would be funny if Jason **_**actually**_** thought that Zaina had feelings for him.**

**This one-shot takes place in between 'Never Be The Same' and 'Don't Look Back', probably a few days after Jason and Zaina are transported back to the present. It's also before Jason tells Kim of his feelings for her. But it's after their first couple of performances and a tiny bit into their music career.**

**Hope you guys like it. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own YJ**

* * *

Not A Love Song

* * *

He's sitting at one of the outdoor tables at the mall courtyard, his arm slung over a guitar as he watches his two best friends at the nearby soda cart.

It's been almost three days since their second song release and almost a week since his and Zaina's crazy adventure in time. He still finds it hard to believe that just about a week ago, he was living with his extremely depressed mother. Now, he has a family. And all because of a crazy plan that evolved into a very impulsive move. In truth, he thinks that the time travelling happened as it gave both him and Zaina a chance to know a ton more about each other. When it would usually push people apart, it just brought them closer to one another.

He plays around with a few strings while he waits for the two girls to come back. He and Zaina had been in the middle of working on a new song (even though it wasn't coming out too well) when Kim had run up to them, excitement written all over her face. While they were performing, Kim had been acting like their manager, booking them to perform on different shows and keeping them up to date on what's new in the show business. He's surprised that she'd pick up the role since she had been fangirling over him a lot more lately, and things had become awkward between them.

Anyway, she couldn't stop fidgeting in excitement until Zaina held her shoulders and calmed her down. After a few seconds, she had told them that she had booked them an interview for a top magazine in California, 'TeenCali'. The news had excited both of them, until Kim told them that they needed to have a new song ready by Saturday, when they would come to interview them both.

So, now, here he is, waiting for the girls to come back from getting a few sodas.

He checks his watch. 1 pm. He can remember reaching here by 10. They've been at this for about three hours now.

Sighing, he runs a hand through his hair, wondering what was taking the girls so long. His head snaps up when he hears the girls coming back. "_Finally_!"

"Someone's eager for a soda." Zaina teases him.

"Who wouldn't?" he counters, his hand reaching out for the sparkling beverage in her hand. "I haven't had anything to drink since morning."

She shakes her head and hands him the drink while she and Kim laugh. He quickly downs his soda, surprised at how thirsty he is. He thinks it's because he didn't realize it since he was so engrossed in composing a new song.

"So, how are we doing on the new song?" Kim asks.

"Not very good." Zaina answers. "We still haven't gotten the first verse."

"Great." Kim says using a very distracted voice. She pulls out her phone and begins to browse something. Zaina looks at him, giving him a very exasperated look. He shrugs back and then leans over to look at the sheet music.

"So, I was thinking of something…" Before she can complete her sentence, a tall redheaded boy pulls up a chair and sits himself beside her, facing him.

"So, what're you two crazy kids working on?" he asks.

"Nice to see you again, Robbie." Jason says. "How was your family reunion?"

"It was crazy. Did you know…" he continues to ramble on about something or other. Jason looks up, sharing another look with Zaina.

"Um, Robbie." He thinks quickly. "I forgot my dog outside the mall. Can you get it for me?"

"Sure thing, _best bud_." He gets up and walks out. Jason turns down to see Zaina glaring at him.

"Dog? Really?" she asks. "You don't even _have_ a dog."

"I _had_." He points out.

"Bolt died like ten years ago." She groans. "And why would you make up something like that?"

"Look, even though he's the director of our music videos, Robbie freaks me out." Jason admits. "He's not exactly…_normal_."

"Not normal?" he clarifies.

"The guy keeps a dead turtle in a shoe box!" Jason protests.

"Says the guy who has an imaginary pet." She looks down, a knowing smile on her lips.

He tries thinking of a decent comeback to get back at her, but it doesn't work and he folds his arms across his chest, grumbling slightly. He glances up and sees Zaina throwing around a few lyrics on a piece of paper. Even from here, he can see the smirk on her face, which tells him that she knows that she's won.

"Maybe we should get back home for lunch." She suggests.

Jason snaps his head up, the look in his eyes clearly tired out. She turns to her side to see Kim's reaction to find that the blond is still busy on her phone and is laughing at some funny video. Shaking her head, she quickly looks over the progress they made over the past few hours. She's surprised as it was hardly any difference from when they started out. This is one of the main reasons why she hates writer's blocks. She just wishes they didn't last so long and would get over soon.

"We'll see you guys after lunch." Jason tells Kim, but is answered with an almost inaudible grunt. He looks at her, the question written all over his face. She shakes her head as he knows he's asking about the song.

"We'll just have to pick it up again when we meet up later." She tells him, getting up and collecting the scrambled papers.

"Guess so." He replies, picking up his guitar. "I just hope we'll be able to finish the song by the time they come."

"I doubt that, judging by our progress." She scowls at the papers in her hand. "I just found out why I hate writer's block."

"Well, I hope you can get over it soon." He replies. "'Cause we've gone long enough without a new song on the website."

"It's been three days, Jason." She points out. "I think the fans can wait a bit longer."

He shrugs, wondering in another part of his mind why she was always right. She would've played with him if he asked her. She would do that before and he would get mad, but now, everything's different, in a good way. He knows that even though he knows about her foresight, she still tries to hide it, because not everybody knows. Seriously, she's seen things that even scare him at times, when she stills and her eyes become glassy for a few seconds. Don't blame him.

It's creepy.

A girlish laugh brings him back to earth. He looks down and sees Kim, who's completely oblivious to everything that's going on around her. Usually, Kim is one of the most observant people he knows, after Zaina. She's always been well aware of her surroundings (not counting the times he sneaked up behind her just to mock her). He exchanges a confused look with his best friend.

"Shouldn't we tell her…?" he asks.

She shakes her head. "She'll be fine."

The two friends leave the courtyard just as a very high laugh makes its way to their ears. Stifling a laugh, he makes his way back to his house, looking forward to having a bite to eat.

* * *

She's not surprised if her mother thinks that she was a bit more hasty than usual. Right after finishing her meal, she gets up and rushes to her room, looking through her drawers. It might not be the best idea she's had, but it might just work.

After a few minutes of shuffling through her drawers, she finally finds it. It's a normal journal, sleek, brown with numerous pages and a rough "Zaina" scribbled out in the corner of the cover in her handwriting. It takes her a minute to read it. It's still frustrating, but it's become a lot easier since Jason talked her into getting help for her dyslexia. She can remember just a week ago, she couldn't even make out the words on a piece of paper, and now she was a songwriter.

Her life took a huge turn, in just a couple of days. If she's honest, she can admit that it just felt like six hours.

She opens the journal and flips through the pages, looking for _any_ inspiration. This journal is pretty personal to her. She's pretty desperate to dig this book out.

She bids a good day to her stepmother, who's pretty much perplexed with the way her stepdaughter is rushing out of the house. She's probably looking at a concerned speech from her dad when he gets back from work. And like all times, she's not looking forward to it.

She quickly makes her way to the mall courtyard, finding Jason already there, along with a very eager Robbie. She chuckles as he tries again to get rid of the red-haired teenager. No matter what she feels about him, she knows that Jason _is_ right. That kid has got to be one of the weirdest people she's ever met.

She still doesn't get why _any_ person would keep a dead turtle in a shoe box.

"Hey, Robbie." She says, going forward. "The electronic store is having a sale. Don't you wanna check it out?"

"Ohhh, yes." He gets up and moves off.

She looks back down to Jason, who gives a huge sigh. "Thanks for the save."

"Don't mention it."

She places the sheet music on the table beside his guitar. She's about to sit down when Jason looks over the table at the brown book placed on the table. "What's that?"

"It's my private journal." She instantly replies. "It has the early tries of a song in it."

"Really?" he asks, suddenly interested.

"You don't remember this, do you?" she grins. He shakes his head. "I had this to throw around a few ideas when we were trying to write our first song, remember?"

"Oh yeah, I remember that!" he says. He begins leaning over. "Mind if I…"

She swats his hand away. "That journal is very personal to me, Jaze. All of my personal stuff is in there. I can't have someone like you peeking at my personal thoughts."

"Come on," he protests. "I'm your best friend. I know _every_ embarrassing thing about you."

"The stuff in this journal is pretty close to me, Jason." She tells him. "Just. _Don't._ Touch. It."

* * *

He begins to pace around, rubbing his hands together. He's been doing this for a few minutes. He still can't get why he's in such a nervous state. Maybe it's because it's been a couple of days since Kim brought them the news of writing a new song to perform. Even though she's been using her journal for inspiration, it hasn't really been coming to her. He can only imagine the block she's been going through. _Heck_, he's been going through the same thing.

A door opens and Kim comes out. He rushes to her and stops her with his hand just above her elbow.

"How's she doing?" he asks.

"How's who doing?" she asks. "I just went in there to get myself a bagel."

Sighing, he lightly pushes past her and walks inside the store. It's just like a regular store you'd see at your local mall. People are strewn all over the area. Today's less crowded than usual, and that's good since they need as much air as they can get. Zaina had come in here to get something to eat and to clear her head.

As he looks all over the place for her, he doesn't find so much as a trace of her, which could only mean one thing; she left when he wasn't looking and is somewhere outside.

He opens the door and peeks outside. He finds Zaina by the table which they were using, shuffling through the papers, looking for something. To his surprise, Kim's with her, helping her in the best way she can. He walks out of the place and towards the two girls.

"So, what's up?"

"My journal is missing." Zaina bluntly answers. So much like her to be blunt when she's freaking out inside.

"What?" he's startled by the news itself.

"I left the journal when I went inside. It's gone now." She looks under a heap of sheet music.

"Do you remember where you last saw it?" he asks.

"I left it right here on this table." She says, sounding a bit frantic. "How can a book just _disappear_?"

"Calm down." He says. "It might be around here somewhere. I'll get Robbie to help look."

* * *

Jason and Robbie make their way back to their table, for the tenth time. They've spent the last four hours looking for Zaina's personal journal. Normally, he would've just mocked her about a book being so important to her, but then he remembers that this was the book that gave her the inspiration to write their very first song. He knows that she's going through a tough time right now, and he just wants to help her out in every single way.

"Hold on!" Robbie's face lights up. "I just remembered where Zen's journal is."

Jason feels his arm tense and his fingers curl into a fist. Only the ones close to her were allowed to call her "Zen". It was a very personal name. Apparently, her mother used to call her that. (Her birth mother, not her stepmother Zatanna.) It was weird hearing the nickname come from Robbie, this guy who they met who was supposedly a _huge_ fan. He knows that the only reason Robbie hangs out with them is because he wants the status, not because he _wants_ to be friends with them. This guy didn't know a thing about her, about the things she did, about the hurt she had to take. If he experienced even a fraction of what he and Zaina felt during that time spell, he's sure that that kid would leave before you could say "Guitar". Still, this guy was really good at making music videos, so it was okay. But, in no way, is he going to grow on Jason, not the way he acts as if he knows them all well.

"Really?" he says through clenched teeth. "Where is it?"

"I just remembered. I was using it as the roof of my gingerbread house." Robbie leans down and pulls out a gingerbread house, with a brown book as the roof.

"Why would you use her book as a roof to your gingerbread house?" he asks, taking the book off.

"What! You want my gingerbread family to live on the streets?" Robbie asks with his voice heavy with fake emotion as he holds up two gingerbread men.

"No." Jason takes one of them. "I want them to live in my belly." He takes a bite of the gingerbread man's arm.

Robbie gasps and reaches for the bread. "Sam!" he yells.

Rolling his eyes, Jason places the journal back on the table, closed. "You know," he says, feeling relief seep through his body. "I'm actually glad _we're_ the ones who found Zaina's journal."

"Yeah," Robbie replies. "Even I'm glad we found it and not some random stranger."

"You got that right." Jason agrees. "That is her personal journal. Imagine what someone would do with _that_."

"That book is practically a piece of her mind. It's probably filled with all kinds of juicy stuff that she'd never tell anyone." The redhead points out.

"Man, I'm so glad it's us." Jason agrees.

The two boys begin to walk away to get Zaina and tell her that they found her book (even though it would be more logical to take the book _to_ her.) But, before they can do anything else, they stop. An idea floods Jason's head. They both walk back the few steps they have taken and look down at the slim journal. Jason then makes a desperate grab for the journal and opens it.

"Just so I'm clear about this, we're snooping, right?" Robbie asks.

"Oh _yes_, we're snooping." Jason answers, flipping through the pages.

Zaina's journal is much more than he expected. When she told him that it was personal, he expected it to be just like all the other emotional girls' diaries. He expected it to be filled with all the emotional junk you found when you picked up a girl's personal journal/diary. But, much to his surprise, it was filled with trial songs, and a lot of lyrics. As he reads through them, he finds that most of them are of the challenges they faced. He can see why this was personal to her. If he had a book filled with so many lyrics, he'd have inspiration within a few minutes. He can see traces of the songs they've performed together in a few pages as well. He also catches a trial run of their very first song. How cool is that?

As his eyes run over the pages, something makes him stop. Probably because he finds a song that catches his attention that doesn't seem like her.

"Dude, look at this. This journal's great. This song is all about a guy she has a crush on." Robbie says, reading over his shoulder.

As he reads the lyrics of the song, it all clicks to him. Jason's eyes widen as he realizes what the song is about. "It's _me_. Zaina has a crush on _me_."

* * *

"I can't believe Zaina has a crush on me." He just can't help but panic.

"I know right. You're not right for her." Robbie says in a very optimistic tone. "A girl like that deserves so much more."

Jason glares at the redhead. For a second, he wishes that he had Superman's heat vision, so that he could fry this kid. What was wrong with him that he couldn't be with Zaina?

_Probably the fact that it might ruin our friendship._ He doesn't say it out loud though and keeps glaring at Robbie, who apologizes and steps back. Then, Jason continues to fret about how this fact may affect their entire relationship. He looks down and reads the rest of the lyrics.

"I mean, how can you be sure it's even you she was writing about?" Robbie puts in.

"It's in these notes she wrote beside the lyrics." He says, running his finger over the words. "'Hair that falls over his eyes, it brings out the deep color of his eyes that are irresistible to get lost in. Aside from that, his amazing smile compliments his charming personality and he smells like a fresh summer breeze.'"

Robbie leans over and smells him. "That's some fresh summer breeze."

Jason slumps back down in the chair, his head still spinning. He still can't believe the fact that his best friend has a crush on him. He doesn't hold anything against her. He's always known that Zaina was good looking, and people actually expected him and her to develop feelings for each other. At some time, when he was a hormonal teenager, he also expected himself to have a crush on her, but it just never happened. He just looked at her like a sister. But it looks like _she_ has feelings for him.

He has no idea what to think.

* * *

She's just relieved that Jason and Robbie found her journal.

She might have freaked out when it went missing, but don't blame her. That journal has all of her first tries at songwriting, and a few of them were really cheesy. She can only imagine what Jason would do with _that_.

Wait, did he snoop?

It seems unlikely. Jason may be a huge nutcase, but he's actually a good person. He wouldn't do something like that. Especially since he _knows_ how much that journal means to her.

Right?

She agrees to meet up with him in her garage to work on the new song. Luckily, now she has her journal back to help her, and that's a bit of a relief. As she walks down to the garage carrying a plate of cookies that her mother magically summoned using a spell. Who knew magic tasted so good?

"Hey," she greets, "My mom got us some cookies."

"Okay," he awkwardly says. She slightly narrows her eyes by the way he is acting. He usually never could stop talking. But he's been unusually calm for the past few hours. "You sure you're okay, Jason?"

"I'm fine." He quickly answers. "Let's get to work on the song."

"Alright," she cautiously says, forcing a laugh. She slides down onto the stool beside him. "So, I was thinking we'd try something different this time. How about a love song?"

"How about a like song?" he rephrases the question, sifting to the edge of the piano stool. "Never thought you'd be into all that romance stuff."

"I'm not into romance." She assures him. "I just, thought it would be a nice change. All of the songs we've written together till now have been about being confident."

"Yeah, we have." He says. "So why can't we stick to it?"

"Jason, what's wrong?" she asks, feeling concerned about him.

"Nothing." He says. Even a person who didn't know him would be able to tell that he's using a forced optimistic tone. "I'm just not feeling the love song."

"I'm really feeling this song, Jason." She says, trying to get him to change his mind. "I think we have enough of a chance to tell you whom I got the inspiration from."

At that, his whole body stiffens. To her surprise, she can see awkwardness and resistance in his eyes. She especially feels uncomfortable with the way he was avoiding her that evening. "I gotta go." He quickly gulps and runs past her out of the garage.

* * *

"I have no idea what got into him." Zaina tells Kim. "He was acting really weird and then ran out of my garage."

"Wow, that's weird, even for him." Kim replies.

Zaina and Kim were in the mall courtyard, not really doing anything expect walk around. Zaina had come here to find Jason, but found Kim instead. The surprising thing was Zaina felt desperate enough to confide in Kim about her concerns for Jason. It was really unusual for him not to be present at the mall today. It was an amazing day with cloudless skies and the perfect temperate. Jason wouldn't spend it a day like this stuck inside the house. It's a good thing the mall they hang out at is an outdoor one, or Jason wouldn't come here at all. At the moment, Zaina was worried enough to absentmindedly walk to the table where Robbie was sitting, fiddling with his gingerbread house.

"I know, right?" Zaina asks. "He left before we could even get to write the song."

"Do you think he's nervous about the interview?" Kim asks.

Suddenly, beside them, Robbie puts his head up and scoffs. "Oh please!" he laughs. "Jason never gets nervous, _especially_ about performing."

"Then why is he acting so awkward around me?" Zaina cuts in.

The second she asks, Robbie stiffens up, awkwardness creeping into his eyes. "Um…Jason always gets nervous, _especially_ about performing." He changes his previous sentence, in a much quicker way than normal. He also lets out an awkward laugh. Unfortunately for him, Zaina and Kim see through it.

"Zaina, I think Robbie's hiding something." The look in Kim's eyes makes Zaina smile as she looks at the raven-haired girl.

"Indeed he is, Kim." Zaina walks around behind Robbie's chair so that he's surrounded by them. "You'd better tell us what you know, _buddy_, or it's gonna get messy."

"I'll never tell!" Robbie dramatically protests.

"_Quit_ being so dramatic and just _spill_!" Kim snarls as Zaina walks to stand beside her.

Robbie puts his hands over his mouth as if to stop himself from telling them. Zaina rolls her eyes at the drama. After a few moments, Robbie seemed to have cracked under the pressure of two girls glaring down at him. Finally, he moves his hands from his mouth and grips the arms of the chair. "Jason read Zaina's journal and knows she has a crush on him!" he blurts out.

"_WHAT!"_ Zaina can barely register Kim yelling out beside her. She's too busy caught up in the surprise of knowing that Jason read her journal. She feels the anger bubble up inside her and she turns around, walking towards the mall gate.

"Hey, where're you going?" Kim runs up to her.

"I'm going to find Jason and _talk_ to him about reading my book." Zaina answers.

Kim slips her arm around her shoulder. "Sister, I have a better idea. I call it: _Revenge_." She waves her hand in front of their faces dramatically. She turns to Zaina. "So, what'dya say about _that_?"

"_I like it."_

* * *

Jason opens the door and taking a deep breath, goes inside. This was the music store from where they got all their instruments. At times, they'd hang out here as well. Who wouldn't? The place was packed with almost every kind of instrument, from guitars and drums to French horns and mouth organs. So, you can expect this to be a popular hangout for them. He looks around the place, looking for a spot to sit when he sees Zaina on the other side of the room.

Unfortunately, Zaina is the _last_ person he wants to meet right now.

He doesn't know how to react when she beckons him over just as Kim comes up to her. He still feels embarrassed from his last outburst with her. He figures that she just put it down as the heat that he just ran out of her garage. God, he still feels horrible. He knows he has to apologize to her sooner or later, so why not now. She seems to be in a good mood, so this might also be the perfect opportunity to apologize to her for acting like a love struck idiot as well as for reading her journal.

He walks up to her and she looks up at him from her conversation with Kim. "Oh hey, Jason." She cheerfully greets, almost too cheerfully. "Kim was just leaving. _Right_?"

"Oh yeah," Kim says, "definitely leaving." She turns around and walks over to the corner where the trumpets are displayed. A part of him wants to reach out to her and grab her, wanting her to stay, but something seems different since both Kim and Zaina seem _very_ optimistic.

"So…?" he awkwardly asks Zaina.

"I have some good news." She tells him. "I've started working on that song."

"Okay!" He holds up a thumbs-up, saying that through clenched teeth. "Tell me when it's over."

She shrugs as he moves over to where Robbie is sitting, running his fingers through a tambourine. He tries to see her reaction to how he just acted, mentally kicking himself for being all awkward around her again. _She's your best friend, West._ He tells himself. _You've never felt awkward around her. Why now?_

_Probably because she has feelings for me but didn't tell me at all!_ He knows he's mentally panicking now.

As he watches, she opens her journal on a table and begins to scribble down in it. He figures that it's just some new song ideas. She looks up at him and he looks down, avoiding her gaze. When he does catch her eye, he forces himself to give her an encouraging smile. Thankfully, she turns back down and continues to write in her book. He heaves a breath and resumes observing her. The only thing he can concentrate on at the moment is that her cheeks are a bit red and flushed.

Wait, is she _blushing_?

(This is not good. Not good at all.)

He anxiously crosses his fingers as Kim comes to stand in front of Zaina.

"Hey, what're you writing?" Kim asks. He wonders whether they're deliberately talking loud enough for him to hear.

"Oh, nothing." Zaina replies. "I'm just making a quick list of things I _don't_ like in a guy." That gets his attention.

"Are you too busy?" Kim asks.

"No, I'm almost done anyway." Zaina replies.

"So, wanna go to the courtyard?" Kim asks again.

"Sure, I'll just leave my book right here." Saying so, Zaina puts the pen down in the middle of the book and walks out of the store with Kim.

_Weird_. The thought barely crosses his mind as he waits for them to leave the store. After they close the door behind them, he scrambles up to Zaina's journal and picks it up.

"Dude, what're you doing?" Robbie asks.

"Robbie, this is my chance." Jason says. "Zen's making a list of things she doesn't like in a guy. If I'm all those things, she'll never like me in _that_ way again."

"That's actually a pretty good idea." Robbie says, getting up and peering over his shoulder.

"Okay, here goes." Jason says, and then lowers his eyes to the page. "Things I Hate In A Guy: Overconfident attitudes, fake tans, sweaty and smelly guys." He reads out. Somehow, he finds it strange that he's known her for so long yet she hated overconfident guys. He was pretty overconfident himself. He pushes his suspicions aside and concentrates on the stuff.

"Well, looks like I'm going to get a little makeover."

* * *

She's in the middle of looking up a new amp for Jason's guitar when she hears footsteps. She looks up and sees Jason walking to the door. Only there's something different about him.

Okay, so it's not a _little_ thing.

Sure he's wearing a simple grey t-shirt and dark denim jeans, but his entire body is orange. She raises her eyebrows because for a second she almost forgets her plan. She can see something different in the way he carries himself too. Usually, he has that confident yet nervous attitude, but this time, he's literally puffing out his chest to appear overconfident. She has to suppress a laugh. Her plan did work. It clearly shows that he's trying to do all the things she "hates" in guys so that she wouldn't like him. Her plan's working great.

"Hey, Zaina." He says, spinning on his feet and posing with his arms open. "How do I look?"

"_Orange_." She replies, making her face give him a disgusted look.

"I know, right?" he asks, walking over to her and removing his sunglasses. "Brings out the color of my eyes."

"Ew, I hate fake tans." She slowly says in an awkward voice. Inside, she was cracking up and it takes all she has to not burst out laughing in front of him.

"Hm, I did not know that." He says, in a seemingly innocent voice. Then he raises his hands over his head and yawns, revealing huge sweat patches under his arms.

"Ew, I hate sweaty guys." She says, feeling the urge to laugh building up, but suppressing it.

"Hm, also did not know that." He says.

"Okay, I'm just gonna go look at the violins." She says, walking away.

He's not sure what just happened. He still can't believe that it didn't work. Did he do something wrong? He wonders whether he read the things correctly. No, he's _sure_ he read it correctly. The fake tan, the sweat, the smell, the overconfident attitude; he's done everything.

He walks over to where Robbie is standing. "I still can't believe it didn't work." He says. "I need something to spice it up."

"I have just the thing." Robbie digs into his pocket and brings out a red pepper. "This is a hot chili pepper. So hot, people never eat it expect for extreme cases. Guaranteed to bring about enough heat to send you sweating out a river."

"Great!" Jason grabs it.

"There's just one thing." Robbie says, trying to remember just as Jason opens his mouth. "The store manager told me that it was so hot so best take in it…"

His eyes widen before he can finish his sentence. Jason swallows the pepper _whole_!

"…small bites." He awkwardly finishes.

The first thing Jason feels is a searing hot pain in his stomach going up to his mouth. He feels like he's burning _alive_. The only thing he can think of is that his tongue is literally on _fire_. He waves his hand over his tongue helplessly hoping that it would help. He can feel the sweat accumulating on his forehead as he looks around for something to help him.

"Robbie! Water!" he yells.

"Sorry buddy, no water." Robbie holds his hands up.

Jason begins to panic because he can very well notice the searing feeling in his mouth. As he frantically looks around, his eyes fall on the door. His eyes widen as Kim suddenly comes in, followed by a group of people. The lead person of the group is holding a microphone in his hand and Jason only just notices that all of the people in the group have huge video cameras. They're the kind you'd find on a set or something. It only then strikes him that this is the camera crew Kim had been talking about.

Wait, the interview was supposed to be held tomorrow. That's exactly the reason why he dressed up like this today, because he knew he wouldn't be on camera. So, what the heck is going on? Why are they here? Now?

"Hey, Jason!" Kim calls out as he continues to heave breaths. "They decided to move the interview to today instead of tomorrow. Isn't that great?"

He tries to say something but he ends up unable to, mainly because of his mouth. He just ends up giving her a questioning gaze. He then freezes for a few seconds as he imagines his picture on the cover of a magazine the way he's looking. Seriously, orange skin, huge sweat patches and a burning tongue? That would be a bummer for their career if he can never go out in public again.

"Hey, California!" the guy with the microphone, possibly the host, comes up to him and puts one arm around his shoulder as he stands there, gasping. "We're here with Jason West who's got a new song to perform. So, how is it?" he turns to Jason and holds the mike near his gasping mouth.

"_Hot, hot_." Jason gasps out, unable to think of anything else.

"Oh, I bet it is." The host says, bringing the mike back to himself. "So, what's the name of your song?" he holds it near Jason once again.

"_Water, water_!" he gasps.

"Oh, water, water. Catchy, catchy." The host says, taking the mike to his face.

Jason's sure that he's now openly panicking. He suddenly feels a few drops of sweat running down his face and blinding him for a few moments. He quickly blinks it out of his eyes. The host turns to him and gives him a confused look.

"Hey, you okay?" the host asks. "You seem a bit nervous."

"Oh, I'm fine." Jason quickly says.

"Okay, I have just one more question for you, Jason." The host says. He takes a deep breath.

"Why'd you read Zaina's journal?"

"_What_?" Jason asks, shocked at the question. _How_ did this guy know that he read Zaina's journal?

"You know…?" He turns around to see Zaina coming up to him. "The journal I told a hundred times not to touch?" She raises her eyebrows questioningly. "Why'd you read it?"

He's still confused for a second until the pieces finally start to fit. "So, this is…?"

"…A fake interview to make you look stupid?" Zaina completes. "Yeah, it is." She turns to her side and high-fives Kim.

He shakes his head. They'd been having him on. He suddenly knows that everything Zaina had done was fake. And she totally had him believing that she had feelings.

Now that's what he calls acting.

"The camera crew was my idea." Kim says. "I'm really good at revenge." She quickly coughs after noticing that she was slightly blushing.

After sharing a laugh, Kim walks past him and goes to talk to the fake camera crew. He watches as she strikes up a conversation with the fake host, probably talking about paying him. He turns around and sees Zaina standing in front of him, a look of triumph on her face. She only gave him that look three times before (and yes, he's been counting. It's hard not to since she's a _bat_ and you never know when you get pranked when you prank her.) One thought suddenly crosses his mind.

"So, you're…"

"I don't have a crush on you." She tells him. She says it in the firm yet calming voice he knows so well. She uses it when she's trying to be nice about something. Just then, it strikes just how hard it might have been for her to act as if she liked him.

He takes a deep breath, forming the words in his head. "Look," he sighs, "I shouldn't have read your journal. It was wrong, and I'm sorry."

She smiles. "Apology accepted."

Then he realizes that he looks really weird at the moment with his orange skin and sweaty patches all over his body. He absently scratches the back of his head, feeling slightly embarrassed. But, he can't deny that he feels extremely relieved that it was all just a ploy. Then, another thought crosses his mind.

"Wait, Zen?" he asks. "If you didn't have a crush on me, then who was that song about?"

"It wasn't about anybody." Zaina assures him. "I took the inspiration from my Mom and Dad's relationship. She helped me with the emotions in the song. Pretty much told me about how she still feels about my dad."

"So, we cool?" he asks.

She smiles. "We're cool."

* * *

She's in her living room, running her fingers along the edge of the page. She's not making an effort to read what's written, so she's practically seeing mixed up alphabets. Still, she doesn't mind, not at the moment.

It's been at least a few days since she played that prank on Jason. After their _tiny_ stunt, she and Jason had sat down and written a song about just being friends. And honestly, she's glad that they wrote that song. It somehow assures her that their friendship will always come first. And sure many people still think that they might have feelings for each other, kinda like those soppy love stories about childhood friends falling in love. Not everyone needs to be in a relationship to be happy.

She gives a tiny chuckle and turns the page of her journal. At times, she wonders why she makes notes. Maybe because it helps her in songwriting. She marvels at how her life turned out. Sure, at times she wishes that her mother wasn't a Meta because she knows that people still expect her to follow in her father's footsteps and maybe someday become the new Nightwing. But they have no idea how it is with her visions. She's actually glad she chose a different path because her visions are uncontrollable and completely unexpected. That could prove to be a disaster in the field. She still expects one to pop any second even though she hasn't had any since their time travel incident.

You can't be too careful.

She suddenly jumps as she hears the window behind her slides up. She whips around, fearing the worst as she sees a particular green-eyed teenager climb through. He gives her a cheeky grin as he jumps down into her living room. She shakes her head at him.

"Well, I hope you have a good excuse for scaring me out of my skin." She tells him.

"Actually, I do." He puts his hand inside a flap that's inside his jacket. He pulls out a colorful magazine and holds it up. "Guess who made the cover of 'TeenCali'!"

She grabs the magazine, her eyes wide. "_WOW_…I can't…"

"Yeah, neither can I." he says.

"I knew about it, but I didn't think…" she marvels, dropping the magazine on the small table in the centre of the room.

They continue to chat on. They're so engrossed in it that they don't notice a raven-haired magician come up behind them. They're surprised when she clears her throat to get their attention.

"So, what's the occasion?" Zatanna asks.

"Nothing much." Zaina replies, in a high voice that tells Zatanna that she's trying to mask her excitement. Zatanna grins.

"Well, it can wait." The magician says. "Your friend Kim called. Apparently she got you two to perform at the party at the park."

The two friends look at each other and smile. Jason takes off for the door while Zaina quickly kisses Zatanna's cheek before following him. The woman smiles at the excitement the two were showing. She had been there when they performed their latest song. She knew at once that it would make them big, not because it was emotional, but because it was light-hearted and catchy and got everyone waving their hands to the beat. And as they performed, she could tell that this came actually came out of their hearts and that it was basically about each other. The song was just about leaving all the drama behind and just enjoying life and not paying too much attention to extreme details.

She looks at the magazine lying on the centre table and then smiles, getting why they were so excited.

On the cover, there's a picture of two kids, a boy and girl, about the age of fifteen. They're posing for a picture, but by the looks on their faces, they're just happy to be there. The picture practically has a lot of emotions, but so do the words above them.

"_Not A Love Song_"

* * *

**A/N: So, hope you ****enjoyed this one-shot. I've been working on it for days now, and 'm so glad it's over.**

**The next chapter for "Don't Look Back" will be up by next week. Sorry about the delay. I have a lot going on.**

**Thanks, and please review. **


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